Communicating in a crisis

Tom Fishburne nails it again in his piece on communicating in a crisis.

I particularly like his point about empathy vs. sympathy: that empathy fuels connection where sympathy drives disconnection…empathy is 'I’m feeling with you', sympathy, 'I’m feeling for you'.

A lot of the 'thoughts and prayers' advertising we've been seeing out there is sympathy at best, opportunistic covid-washing at worst, and lacking in any real empathy generally - there's no getting out there and living it with the people they're talking to.

Tom Fishburne on empathy in crisis communication